Sidney Blackmer credited as playing...
Theodore Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt: I would rather have this administration fail because it enforced the laws than see it succeed by violating them!
- Theodore Roosevelt: [to representatives of real estate interests] If improving the living conditions of the poor means working against you, I've only just begun.
- President William McKinley: Mr. Roosevelt, will you explain why you think the peace of the United States is in danger?
- Theodore Roosevelt: [as Assistant Secretary of the Navy] Because only that nation is prepared for peace that knows how to fight! Speak softly, but carry a big stick!
- Theodore Roosevelt: [after being nominated for Vice President] I feel like a man who's been sentenced to four years of solitary confinement.
- Senator Platt: Of course, you'll always consult us on policy.
- Theodore Roosevelt: Always. Then I'll do exactly what I think is right!
- Theodore Roosevelt: My administration is obligated to no one but the people themselves. I shall treat every man on his merits as a man. The doors to the White House will swing open just as easily for the poor as for the rich. The labor unions and corporations will have a square deal - but most important, the private citizen will have a square deal!
- [last lines]
- Theodore Roosevelt: [dictates speech to his secretary] There can be no compromise in the fight for Americanism! I am confident that our people will work hand-in-hand with any public man who in good faith does all that is possible to see that the United States so conducts herself as a nation as to conserve the honor, the institutions, and the peaceful welfare of her own citizens. Our next business will be to help guarantee the peace of justice for the world at large. There cannot be - there must not be - a repetition of the crime against Belgium! I am anti-brutality. I should protest as strongly against wrongdoing by any foreign power. The little nations of the earth have a right to live - and if civilization is to endure, the great nations must respect that right! Let us unite in the one great endeavor of achieving an enduring peace with all the world. But let us not forget that the surest promise of that peace lies in our constant preparedness to meet all eventualities from without, and to combat and destroy all subversive elements working from within! There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says that he is an American, and seeks to promote foreignisms within our borders is not a true American! We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language, the language of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights! And we have room for but one loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people!
- Theodore Roosevelt: Gentlemen, any war anywhere is bound to affect the welfare of every American citizen. This fact will become more apparent in future years. It is therefore our solemn duty to prevent war with every possible peaceful means at our command!
- Theodore Roosevelt: It's the American system that needs reforming! We're too trusting, too easygoing. We must have a navy that is strong enough not only to sustain the honor of our flag, but to uphold the Monroe Doctrine, and discourage all thought of foreign aggression!
- Reporter: Mr. President, would you care to tell us how you managed to put through the Pure Food law in such amazingly fast time?
- Theodore Roosevelt: The big stick, backed by public opinion, is a powerful weapon, my friends.
- Theodore Roosevelt: The bosses don't like me. The longer I live, the greater cause I shall give them for disliking me.
- Big Jim Rafferty: I wouldn't be reliant too much on the people, if I were you - or on your police force, either. They know which side their bread's buttered on. You'd better not be so hard-headed, and learn to take orders.
- Theodore Roosevelt: I'm not here to take orders, but to give them!
- Big Jim Rafferty: Then you won't be here long.
- Theodore Roosevelt: Long enough to make life miserable for political bosses. Did you ever hear of the big stick, Rafferty?
- Big Jim Rafferty: No, can't say that I have.
- Theodore Roosevelt: You will - and feel it.
- Theodore Roosevelt: Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die. None is fit to die who has shrunk from the joy of life, and the duty of life. Both life and death are part of the same great adventure.